The Lying Game
by Kimi03
Summary: She entered a game she didn't even know she was part of. Somewhere along the way… he figured her out.


In celebration of my 100 reviews of I Wish, I decided to throw out this One Shot. Cute. Short. And completely AU.

Dedicated to _X-Menobsessed26_ for being the 100th reviewer (and to all of you that have left a review on I Wish and have followed the story this far)

**The Lying Game**

**.**

**.**

**.**

We often lie about many things. Sometimes it's even an unconscious act, yet it happens. This was a common occurrence in Rogue's life. She had put up a façade of who she truly was. She didn't know where Marie began and Rogue ended. She would be damned if she was caught writing or reading poetry, how could she? She was Rogue, _the Rogue_, ruthless, rebellious, with no regard for others. And yet in midst of the night when everyone was presumably asleep she would go down to the kitchen turn on the light and read her collection of poems. And God forbid Kitty would ever discover that she actually listened to the songs she, of all people, recommended which shall remain unknown to the public to protect her dignity. In short, she lied… often.

What she lied about the most? Her feelings.

"Gosh, I'm so bored!" whined Kitty Pryde as she threw herself at the bed.

Rogue looked at her from the corner of her eyes and then back to one of her favorite shows, Criminal Minds. "Read a book," Rogue suggested.

"Yeah… No. Come on Rogue, its winter break, there ought to be something better than reading a book," she groaned in frustration and looked at the roof, "You think the guys are doing anything fun?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask'em,"

Before Kitty could answer Kurt 'pooffed' in their room, "Girls, there is an emergency,"

"What is it?" Rogue asked quickly and turned off the TV. Kurt grabbed both of their hands on transported them to the main living room.

"I'm glad everyone is here," spoke Tabitha in a serious tone, very unlike her. "As you know 'the adults'" she said while making air quotes, "are on a mission, which means we have the house all to ourselves,"

Then Bobby continued, "We're all well aware of the fiasco that last party we had was so…"

This time Jean spoke, "Scott and I who have been left on supervision duty, agreed on letting you guys have some fun, especially now that the group has more additions," this of course meant that no outsiders were invited. "And for that, as per suggestion of Tabitha and Amara, we'll have a game night." She finished quite excited.

"I'm sorry but we're not 12 anymore Jean," said Kitty, "Monopoly and Uno ain't my type of fun, sorry."

Tabitha approached the Shadowcat and placed an arm around her shoulder, "Oh, we didn't mean that type of game night,"

Rogue had a bad feeling about this…

"The guys and I will be in charge of the games this night," finished Scott with a mischievous grin, very uncharacteristic of him, that was shared by all of the males of the Institute.

{x}

Two hours after the whole thing was explained and the respective "booths" were set up at different rooms, the girls departed and looked for the ones they would enjoy the most.

There was the poker booth, where the bets where high and people could earn "coupons" that would free the girls or the guys of cleaning duty and home-works. And if you wanted something extremely risqué you could even bet on "Dating passes." Obviously this one was ran by Kurt and Spike.

There was the truth or dare booth, which was taken to another level because the dares were somewhat outrageous considering what the mutants asked from one another in every dare. This one was ran by Sam and Bobby.

There was the A-Maze-ing booth that was set up at the Danger room. This time it had been specially modified to work as a maze with minor obstacles to test not only the girls' physical skills, but also their intellect. Jamie and his twelve selves took care of this one.

And… there was the Wild Card.

Simply named Wild Card because the game always depended on who came in. This one was ran by the one and only Scott Summers.

The girls debated for a little while as for which booth they wanted to visit, because all of them were time consuming. Kitty went with Jubilee to the poker booth; she had every intention of getting off of cleaning duty this week. Tabitha went by herself to the truth or dare booth, just to test the waters. Amara on the other hand, had convinced Jean on accompanying her to the A-Maze-ing booth, to sharpen up her skills and have a good time. Ultimately, Rogue was left to the Wild Card, and in all honesty, she was awfully excited to go to that one in particular, because of…well… _him_.

Sure she never gave any signs of having any sorts of feelings towards him; well at least she thought she didn't. So far no one had ever made any comments about it. Although she couldn't help to act just a little different with him than with anybody else, and she would occasionally engage in flirting with other boys at the Institute, nothing serious more like a playful thing. But NEVER with him. Anyway, as she approached his room which had the door opened and an inviting scent drawing her in, she began to hesitate about being there. What if it was a difficult game or an embarrassing one…? Nah, Scott Summers, the stick in the mud, was not creative enough to come up with anything like that. Well except for the difficult part, he tended to make things more difficult than what they were.

"Come on in, I don't bite," said Scott with a wide grin and closed the door behind her, "for a moment there I thought no one would come to my booth."

Rogue didn't know what to say and just stood awkwardly next to a table.

"Hey don't be shy, take a seat and we'll get started,"

She took a seat and looked at him in the eye, "What type of game do you have in mind? Wild Card doesn't really say much," she said to lighten up the mood.

He relaxed in his chair and leaned back, "Oh, no need to worry I have a game specially designed for you,"

She didn't know whether to feel happy or offended by his words, she opted for the former. "Okay,"

He stood up and turned off the lights, all but a night lamp that illuminated the table between them.

"I feel like I'm going to be interrogated by the police,"

"Not quite," he rested his head on the palm of his hand and looked at her intently, "We'll play… The Lying Game,"

"Never heard of it," She had a terrible feeling concentrating at the pit of her stomach. She was a good liar; there was no doubt about it. However, she always had the feeling that Scott even with his shades, was able to see right through her.

"It's simple, I ask you a question you answer, if it's a lie and I can tell it is, then you'll be," he paused looking for the right words, "punished per say,"

"Punished how?"

"That's up to the punisher," he gave her a crooked grin, that only made shivers run down her spine, "but don't worry you'll be able to do the same, so it's a fair match.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come here after all, "Uhm," she stood up and he only looked at her waiting for her next move. She was more than ready to leave, had he not said…

"You're not scared are you?"

She adjusted her skirt and sat back down, "Of course not," she smirked in response and waited for him to proceed. He gave her a red card and a green one; if her answer was truthful she would raise the green card after he gave his analysis. If she lied, then she would raise the red card.

"Ladies first,"

"I'll be nice, what's your favorite color?" sure it was a simple question but she always wondered if red really was his favorite color or not.

"Green," Green? She wasn't expecting that really. Was there the possibility that green was his favorite color?

"You lie," she said confidently, there was no way green was his favorite color.

"Well Miss," he looked at both his cards and pulled up the red card, "you were right my favorite color isn't green, it's actually blue."

She didn't expect that either, "So this means I get to punish you?"

He nodded, "Go ahead, I'm all yours,"

_I wish._

"You owe me a week worth of rides to and from school once when we go back,"

He pondered on it for a moment and nodded, "That seems a high price for a color question, but I accept your terms," Rogue enjoyed the small victory, "What is your favorite color?"

Easy, "Purple," she said without hesitation.

"Oh really now? Well you're lying," he answered as quickly as she did.

"You win this one Summers," she raised a red card.

"I thought so. As for your punishment I say you do my English home work for a week."

She snorted, "If you want to fail then sure why not,"

"I'm sure I won't be failing, quite the contrary,"

"Why do you say so?"

"Is that your second question?"

"No,"

"Well then, I don't feel obligated to answer," He said casually.

So he wanted to play Mr. Tough Guy, she could live with that, "Would you rather go on a date with Mystique, or get kissed by Logan?" She smirked at him, let's see how he gets out of this one.

He didn't even flinch, "Why that's an interesting question, never thought about it before," he stroked his chin for a while and then smiled, "Go out with Mystique of course,"

"Who knew you had your little fantasies with the enemy. I'll say it's true,"

He laughed and pulled up a green card, "It's nothing like that, the thing is," he leaned on the table and motioned her to do the same, "she could actually transform into someone that I liked," he whispered in her ear and then leaned back on his chair.

She gulped, "And that would be?" she was playing with fire, and if she kept it up she was sure she would get burned.

"Ah, ah," he shook his head, "it's my turn, and since you want took the initiative of making things 'fun'," he paused, "I'll follow your example," He adjusted the light to shed more light on her, "Would you rather go to a Goth-Punk concert, or have a dinner at the Eiffel Tower?"

Was he kidding?, "The concert, I don't see how that's fun at all," she crossed her arms around her chest and smiled.

"The fun in that is," he pulled out a notebook and a pen, "that you're lying, and I will punish you for it,"

She furrowed her brows and looked almost offended, there was no possible way he could've _known_ she was lying. She was about to grab the green card signaling that she was being honest until she felt his hand on top of her gloved one, "Don't even try,"

Her eyes locked with his shades and, it may had been the way the light was casted on him but she was almost certain she was able to make his glowing orbs and a little smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "How do you…"

"know? Let that be my secret,"

She pulled her hand away from his, "What's your biggest fear?"

He also pulled his hand away, although much slower than her, "Losing control," He said slowly.

That was obviously true, "That's true,"

He raised a red card, "Actually, that's one of my fears, not the biggest," he scribbled something on his notepad again, "So you lose," he finished writing and looked back up at her, "My biggest fear is not being able to save… others,"

"I didn't know,"

"Not many people know," he shrugged, "The last movie that you saw and made you cry?"

She looked at her hands and fumbled with them, "Well you know I don't cry over petty movies, but the last one that I saw was Drag Me to Hell," sheesh, keeping up the façade was not easy, she hadn't even seen the movie only the title on the TV guide.

"Tsk, tsk, you lie," He wrote on his notepad again.

"Do not!" she defended herself, there was no way, just no way he would know about…

"The last movie that you saw _and_ made you cry was One Day, it was on TV last night,"

"Of course not! I did _not_ watch that movie!" she was half tempted to pout like a little girl.

He chuckled, "Well unless there is another girl with white bangs that wakes up at midnight to either read or watch TV in the Rec Room…"

"Are you watching me?"

"I'm taking that as your next question and my answer is…yes"

She opened her eyes as wide as possible and inevitably blushed, "Liar!"

He held up his hands in the you've-got-me pose, "It's true," then he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "It's not like I'm stalking you, it just happened."

"How?"

"Well, one night I couldn't sleep and wanted to get some ice cream before Kurt and everyone else finished it, and then I saw you reading I was going to say hi but…"

"But what?"

"But then you said something like, 'Oh Dex, the things I would do to you'" Now if she was blushing before, she was now ten times redder. Out of pure embarrassment she hid her face on her hands. "Hey it's nothing to be embarrassed about," he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure any guy would feel honored to here you say that about him,"

Today was probably the day Scott Summers woke up with the goal to embarrass Rogue Darkholme to no end. "Just go,"

"Well this is my room,"

"I meant that it's your turn, go," She breathed in, and slowly exhaled to try and alleviate some of her embarrassment.

"Ah, yes. Why do you lie?"

"Well I rather not embarrass myself like right now,"

"What I meant to say is, why do you lie all the time?"

"I'm not a pathological liar," she defended herself.

"Why can't you be honest about who you are, what you really like,"

She sighed, "For the same reason you do,"

He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You try to show the others what a fearless leader and goody two shoes you are, but you're not. You're human and mistakes," she said without missing a beat, "yet you don't let yourself show that side of you."

He gave her a small smile, "It's true. Just like you live up to everyone else's expectations, the ruthless girl, the anti-social girl, the girl who cannot be girly or too smart because everyone else thinks that would be so un-Rogue" He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her once more, "We're a messed up pair," he chuckled.

She did the same, "Only a little," there was a comfortable silence between them and then he proceeded.

"One last question," she nodded, "would you like to go on a date… with me?" he actually looked nervous this time.

Did she hear him correctly? Go on a date? As in Scott Summers and Rogue Darkholme? Maybe she should pinch herself first and wake up before yet another embarrassing moment. On the almost impossible occasion that this was actually happening, it was a once in a life time opportunity…

She stood up, took both the green and red cards, and walked over to him. She lowered her head to be right next to his ear and whispered, "No…"

He fisted his arm and unconsciously flinched very slightly, his jaw hardened but his eyes remained a mystery. "I see…"

This time she sat on his bed and was waiting expectantly for him to go on, but he didn't say a word and only looked at her, "Do you have anything to say?"

"I think you said it all," he said flatly.

She rolled her eyes at him, "You're a terrible player, and here I thought you could see right through me," she giggled.

"I thought so too," he wasn't sure why she was giggling.

She sighed and looked at him with a special glint in her eyes and slowly raised the red card in front of him.

It started with a small smile and then it turned into a full wide grin, "I guess I wasn't as good as I thought in this game."

"Nope you weren't, and for that you will be punished," she patted a spot next to her bed and he walked over and sat next to her. "As punishment I get to choose when and where we'll go on our date,"

He nodded, "That seems fair," they locked gazes for a while longer until she nervously placed a white strand of her behind her ear and stood up.

"Maybe I should—" he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back on the bed.

"I think we're not done here yet," he laced their hands together, "you still owe me some 'punishments'"

"I do?" she tried playing innocent, but she remembered very well that she did.

"Mmhmm," it was then that she noticed that he was holding a piece of paper, "close your eyes?" he breathed.

She did as instructed and closed her eyes slowly. She was scared, confused, and excited…

"You know," she was able to feel his minty breath on her face, "you were right about what you said. About me being _human_," he snorted at that, "well you know what I mean by the term. The point is that humans act irrational most of the time and…"

"and?" she said.

"And I'm about to act _very_ irrational," with his free hand he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her to him and the inevitable happened. They kissed. He barely caressed her lips with his and she felt the pull of his life energy and instantly tried to pull her away but he didn't let her. He still kissed her gently but firmly and she decided to enjoy it while it lasted. A strong mixture of longing, desire, love, and everything in between spread inside her, and because of her mutant ability she felt that the same happened with him. While they kissed she was able to absorb not only his powers but also see part of his recent memories. She saw how he was acutely observant of her actions what she did, what she liked, and the gestures she made when she was pretending. She saw how he little by little was figuring her out and how he would smile when she caught a glimpse of her reading a romance novel, disguised as a horror one (with the cover of a horror book) just because that's what the others expected of her. She also saw, how he began to _like_ her just for who she was and even when she pretended to be something that she was not.

In those glorious 10 seconds she was truly happy, and then it was time to let go.

He fell on the bed unconscious and she tried to pry her hand away from his, but it was futile. With her free hand she took the piece of paper that he had and read what was written on it.

"_I will kiss you, and when I do I will probably be unconscious for a while. Please, wait for me to wake up… I would like to wake up to your smile."_

She blushed and felt happy no one was there to see it.

She rested her body next to his and waited.

Three hours later and she was fast asleep, and then he woke up slowly but surely and saw her next to him with a small smile on her face.

"It was worth it."

.

.

.

_The End_


End file.
